As recorded in Rick Collignon’s second novel,Perdido, a tall black man with one arm longer thanthe other walked into Guadalupe, New Mexico onemorning about 50 years ago, stayed pretty muchto himself for seven years, and then walked backout of town. No one knew who he was or whatbecame of him.Now, as his last act, an old man named RuffinoTrujillo tells his grown son Cipriano a story aboutwhat became of the black man. After Ruffino’sdeath, Cipriano discovers an old canvas...
Madewell Brown walked into the village on a hot, dry day in 1946. A solitary black man with one arm longer than the other, he had never found a place for himself. Never, that is, until he had painted his own history on the interior walls of his adobe house in Guadalupe.Fifty years later, Will Sawyer’s truck runs out of gas, and as he walks that same long road back into town he knows it’s best to keep his eyes on the ground. But he doesn’t understand the...
The gentle-hearted Flavio Montoya returns,now as the aged scion of his family, still tendinghis sister Ramona’s fields and wondering how allof his family could have died before him. Whenthe mountains surrounding Guadalupe erupt inflames, the history of the village seems to be setloose in the smoke. The dead arrive and the silentspeak. When Flavio is accused of starting the firethat quickly threatens to consume the village, thedisaster becomes one more mystery that he mustfold into his...
We are proud to reintroduce the classic first novel by the author of Madewell Brown.When little José Montoya’s parents are killed one August morning by a cow, his Tia Ramona and his Tio Flavio are troubled by how best to raise the boy. After the funeral, they drive to their childhood home behind the village office, but “before they reach the house, the front door swung open and Ramona’s grandfather, Epolito Montoya, who had been dead for thirteen years,...
